Ziang Xie

A key challenge in bringing robots out of the manufacturing setting and into homes and offices is that of perception: though many robots are equipped with numerous sensors, there is currently no reliable computer algorithm which can take as input images of unpredictable, cluttered environments and identify each object in the image and estimate its 3D pose.Recently, there have been many advances in the field of unsupervised feature learning via neural networks, specifically in the learning of sparse features. Given the vast amount of data online, as well as the […]

Jared Nathanson

All land plants undergo an alternation of generations. This alternation occurs between a haploid gametophyte and a diploid sporophyte. In the early-diverging lineages of land plants, such as liverworts, hornworts, and mosses, the haploid gametophyte is dominant in the life cycle. However, in later-diverging lineages, such as gymnosperms and angiosperms, the diploid sporophyte is dominant while the haploid gametophyte is transient. It is possible that this evolution of sporophyte dominance may have been caused by a delay in Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)-triggered meiosis in the sporophyte generation. PRC2 functions […]

Nan “Chuck” Ye

Bioconjugation reactions, the chemical reactions connecting two biomolecules together, have been heavily studied to chemically modify proteins, allowing the possibility of augmenting the biological activity of proteins with small molecules. This field of research is crucial to many pharmaceutical applications, such as drug targeting that requires the conjugation between drug molecules and soluble proteins. In order to install new synthetic molecules onto a protein site specifically and bioorthogonally, there is an increasing need for chemical strategies that can effectively attach synthetic molecules site specifically to proteins. However, many of these […]

Salman Aljilani

Exercise has been shown to be an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, and also as an adjuvant to enhance vaccine efficacy in the elderly. Evidence accumulated by others suggests that lactate production formed as a byproduct of exercise may fuel many cellular functions. This includes improving energy metabolism, even in the presence of glucose, by boosting bioenergetic efficiencies in many different cell types (i.e. skeletal muscle and neurons) through a shuttling mechanism that facilitates movement of lactate into recipient cells. My project will monitor lymphocytes, a major player of […]

Yung-En Perng

My project examines an aspect of the robustness of the hexapodal design. Cockroaches are one of the fastest terrestrial animals for their size and mass, and have been shown to negotiate many different types of externally caused perturbances, such as uneven or slippery terrain. Previous research suggests that cockroaches use passive mechanical control, which is built into the physical properties of the locomotory system, to overcome uneven terrain (Sponberg and Full, 2008). But how about a perturbance brought about by altering the cockroach itselfleg loss? I seek to determine whether […]

Robert Saxton

The Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C) is an essential protein that allows cells to divide in a timely and proper manner. Inhibition of the APC/C prevents proper cell division, making it a protein of interest for cancer therapies. While many targets of the APC have been identified, its full spectrum of substrates is not yet characterized. In this project, I will be studying the interaction between the APC and a proposed novel substrate, KIF20A, a motor protein that is also essential for cell division, and which is also of interest in […]

Michelle Carney

The zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a highly social passerine that heavily relies on vocal communication during social interactions. Over one third of its brain is dedicated to auditory functions. Vocal recognition has been studied previously in mated pairs of this species using a particular type of calls, the distance call. However, zebra finches communicate with a full repertoire of vocalizations. Here I am investigating whether they can discriminate voices of other individuals. More precisely, Im testing the capacity of zebra finches to discriminate between different emitters irrespective of the […]

Jacqueline Lee

Delayed puberty is a reproductive strategy seen only in a few species of seasonally breeding birds. These birds go through puberty several years after reaching adult size unlike most birds that experience puberty right as adult size is reached. Little is known about the mechanism behind puberty, and even less is known about delayed puberty. To investigate why some species of bird experience delayed puberty, my project involves observing neuronal cell populations of two important reproductive hormones in the brains of California Gulls and Western Gulls, two species that display […]

William Carpenter

Currently, the lifetime of lithium ion batteries limits utility in applications like electric vehicles. As a battery is cycled, it experiences extreme potentials that decompose the electrolyte to form a layer, the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), on the two electrodes. The SEI traps lithium ions and generates resistance, both of which degrade the battery over time. Research has shown that the addition of a compound known as a sulfone increases the voltage at which the electrolyte decomposes. This new voltage threshold is higher than the voltages seen in a battery, […]

Anthony Ransford

Quantum information processing promises to increase computer power on a scale not yet seen in the industry. With less than a hundred quantum mechanical bits physical systems that are beyond the scope of current computers could be investigated. One method of quantum information processing is using laser cooled ions trapped in electromagnetic fields. The ions must remain sufficiently undisturbed long enough to make calculations. In practice strong heating of the laser cooled ions hinder this. The source of this heating can be traced to electric fields which are five orders […]